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In Canada, funding for public schools comes from provincial or territorial governments or from a combination of provincial transfers and local taxes. These taxes and transfers are collected by the local government and/or the local school boards. All provinces and territories develop grant structures that describe the funding level for each school board. Factors such as location, number of students enrolled, and number of special needs students enrolled can alter the level of funding allocated.
Only three provinces - Alberta, BC, and Ontario - have successfully adopted a provincial-level funding system.
Public school spending varies depending on the province or territory. From 2006/07 to 2015/16, the graph shows Canada's increased public school spending to account for enrolment changes and inflation and illustrates the difference in spending for public schools over a 10-year period. Saskatchewan has a large 71.1% increase over that time period, while BC only showed a 12.2% increase.
Figure 1: Statistics Canada Table, sourced from BC government website.
BC has over 550,000 students enrolled in public schools across 60 school boards. BC’s School Act requires that public school tuition be free for all resident children so that they are given an equal opportunity to receive a quality education.
The BC provincial government decides the grant size that will be allocated to school boards through a provincial funding formula. These grants consist of a combination of general provincial funds and property taxes of which school boards have authority to collect under the School Act.
The diagram below demonstrates the general funding formula in BC:
Figure 2: American Progress Report Infographic